CHINA, :PLA Concepts for 'Intelligent Operations'By Brent M. Eastwood, China Brief: “Most of China’s current AI military research is focused on hardware—such as robotic tanks and vehicles, autonomous drones, and remotely-piloted submarines. These pursuits are heavy on mechanical engineering and traditional research and development. They also fit within a broader pattern that has been noted by PLA scholars for the past two decades: the development of advanced weapons and military technologies as part of the “assassin’s mace” concept, in which the PLA will seek to conduct crippling asymmetric blows against potential opponents."

Attacking Artificial Intelligence: How To Trick The EnemyBy Sydney J. Freedberg Jr., Wednesday, February 6, 2019 5:37 PM“Autonomy may look like an Achilles’ heel, and in a lot of ways it is” – but for both sides, DTRA’s Nick Wager said. “I think that’s as much opportunity as that is vulnerability. We are good at this… and we can be better than the threat.”

CHINA:China Developing Battlefield AIBy Bill Gertz, The Washington Times: “A Chinese military newspaper has outlined how the People’s Liberation Army plans to deploy artificial intelligence (AI) for its forces in future high-technology warfare."

How Will the Army Use Electronic Warfare?By Mark Pomerleau, C4ISRNET: "According to the annual report from the director of operational test and evaluation, the Army's current publications don't clearly help units refine their “tactics, techniques, and procedures” or for organizing and using electronic warfare on the battlefield."

The Pentagon’s First AI Strategy Will Focus on Near-term OperationsBy Patrick Tucker, Defense One: “The Defense Department will unveil a new artificial intelligence strategy perhaps as early as this week, senior defense officials told Defense One. The strategy — its first ever — will emphasize the creation and tailoring of tools for specific commands and service branches, allowing them to move into AI operations sooner rather than later."

Training for Tomorrow's Battlefieldsby Jennifer McArdleToday's U.S. military is an information-dependent force, one that is wholly reliant on information communication technology (ICT) for current and future military operations. The adaptation and integration of ICTs into weapons platforms, military systems, and concepts of operation has put the battle for information control at the heart of military affairs. Although the use of ICT exponentially increases the lethality of the U.S. military, the dependence on these technologies is, in many ways, also a vulnerability. U.S. competitors plan to employ a range of cyber and informationized capabilities to undermine the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of U.S. and allied information.

It is impossible to deny an adversary's ability to shape aspects of the information environment, to include spoofing and sabotaging ICT-based warfighting systems. The U.S. military's goal should instead be to sustain military operations in spite of a denied, disrupted, or subverted information environment. This requires a paradigm shift away from information assurance to mission assurance. U.S. warfighters should be trained to fight in and through an increasingly contested and complex battlespace saturated by adversary cyber and information operations. This report engages in a detailed analysis of current and future cyber and informationized training for the non-cyber warfighter. It provides initial recommendations as to how training systems, scenarios, models, and simulations can evolve to better reflect the complexities of a rapidly changing information-rich combat environment.

The Overloaded Soldier: Why Troops Carry So Much WeightBy David Hambling, Popular Mechanics: “Over the last decade, hyped technologies such as robotic mules and wearable exoskeletons promised to free up soldiers from hauling so much gear. Instead, the demands of the modern battlefield only increased the load. This is one problem which technology alone may not be able to solve.”

The Army is looking for a few good robots. Not to fight — not yet, at least — but to help the men and women who do. These robots aren’t taking up arms, but the companies making them have waged a different kind of battle. At stake is a contract worth almost half a billion dollars for 3,000 backpack-sized robots that can defuse bombs and scout enemy positions. – Associated Press

The agency that invented stealth technology, the internet, and the M16 has its sights focused on enhancing how the infantry squad works on the battlefield with robots, and advanced targeting and sensing gear. – Military Times

Neurons Make the Robot, NRL SaysBy Kimberly Underwood, Signal Magazine: “Autonomous capabilities have advanced, especially in the last 10 years, but robots still have a hard time performing ad hoc motions, particularly manipulative movements using a robotic arm or hand, says Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) roboticist Glen Henshaw."

High-Energy Laser Systems and the Future of WarfareBy Jason Sattler, Strategy Bridge: “ The first exploration into the different possibilities for weaponized lasers began in the 1990s, which culminated in a major study published by the Defense Science Board Task Force in 2001."

Amy K. Lehr writes: The surveillance state in Xinjiang demonstrates the dark side of surveillance equipment, big data, and AI. It also indicates the speed at which China is developing and commercializing AI. China has a competitive advantage in this space because Chinese companies have access to a massive pool of data on which to train AI and fewer privacy laws to obey. – Center for Strategic and International Studies

The Pentagon's Push to Program Soldiers' Brains// Michael Joseph GrossDARPA's developing capabilities still hover at or near a proof-of-concept stage. But that's close enough to have drawn investment from some of the world's richest corporations. ​

DARPA’s Experimental ConstellationBy Caleb Henry, SpaceNews: “The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has awarded satellite operator Telesat a contract to study the use of commercial buses in the agency’s experimental low-Earth-orbit constellation program known as Blackjack.”

Pentagon Wants a Nuclear Reactor That Fits in a C-17By Kyle Mizokami, Foxtrot Alpha: “The Department of Defense wants a portable nuclear reactor the size of a main battle tank that's capable of being lifted to overseas hot spots. The reactor would provide megawatts of power for U.S. forces, providing juice for everything from Xboxes to directed energy weapons."

AI-Next: The 3rd WAVE By Kris Osborn, Warrior Maven: “In short, the AI-Next initiative, intended to evolve into a 3rd Wave, can explain the reason “why” it reached the conclusion it reached, something which offers a breakthrough level of computer-human interface, he added.”

Army to Unveil New 'Multi-Domain Operations' Strategy By Kris Osborn, Warrior Maven: “Senior Army strategists tell Warrior Maven this emerging strategic shift, which is expected to fully roll out at the upcoming annual Association of the U.S. Army Symposium, represents a key next step in the strategic evolution beyond the often discussed “Multi-Domain Battle” initiative.”

Our New Model Robot ArmiesBy Peter Layton, Small Wars Journal: “Robotic technologies seem set to disrupt warfare in at least two big ways: firstly, in improving productivity making armies equipment-centric; and secondly, in making defence dominant on the battlefield. In this revolution, the character of war will change and somewhat unexpectedly, possibly its nature.”​

Readying the Naval Services for What’s Over the Horizon By Robert P. Kozloski, CHIPS: “Experts claim that society is at the verge of a Fourth Industrial Revolution. This change presents both challenges and opportunities for the Department of the Navy, where warfighting considerations are rightfully privileged. The management aspects of technology are only a secondary consideration, but may have enormous consequences if they are not addressed.”
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Pentagon Hopes JEDI Contract Good for the Force By Colin Clark, Breaking Defense: “Worth up to $10 billion over a decade, the Pentagon’s attempt to build its first true enterprise-wide cloud has sparked charges that the deal is designed to go straight to Amazon, who already supplies the CIA with its cloud services.

Army to Acquire New Nano Drones By Sonja Jordan, National Defense Magazine: “Soldiers are “looking for a covert, safe and immediately available situational awareness tool” that they can carry easily and use at the squad level, Aguirre said.

MALD-X Tested for Swarm EW By Colin Clark, Breaking Defense: "More than three-and-half-years ago we ran an intriguing piece by Robert Haddick, a respected strategist and sometime consultant to Special Operations Command. Haddick proposed modifying a small drone called the Miniature Air-Launched Decoy (MALD) so it could take on mobile missiles and perhaps search huge swaths of Chinese territory after being launched from B-52s.